Under Rodney Garner, Tennessee football has had an impressive defensive line.
One of the keys is using a deep rotation of linemen to keep players fresh. While boasting impressive depth, the goal is to not have much drop off between starters and reserves with sometimes over 10 players playing per game.
Having talent alongside him on the defensive line, third-year LEO Joshua Josephs is excited about the potential this brings. He went down the list of guys that could make an impact this season.
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The potential for this group is clear. It starts with the projected No. 1 overall pick in the following NFL Draft, James Pearce Jr., but it could go down as one of the best in the conference.
The aggressive style Tim Banks likes to use his defense, it could be a year of awards for the front. However, Garner isn't a coach who will let outside noise distract his group.
He wants his players to ignore anything coming from outside the building and critique themselves to the point they're ready to play at a championship level.
"Who's praising them? I’m not," Garner said. "So, we just try to block out all the outside noise. One thing about it, when you look at that film, when you study it and you come in there every day and you really look at it, you've got to be your own biggest critic. And it’s no different from me as a coach. Every day, I’m going out there on the field, I’m working to be a better coach today than I was yesterday. Same thing that they’re working for as players. And we all have a lot of room that we need to improve in and in a lot of areas. If they’re going bring this kind of stuff on you, then you got to prepare for it. And that’s the thing I told them, man, this is not going to be easy now. To whom much is given, much is required. So we’ve got to prepare ourselves to go out there and be able to play at a championship level and that is the challenge every single day."
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Along with Garner's push, what makes Tennessee's defensive line so dangerous is the difference in play style each guy has. Some are big brawlers like Elijah Simmons or Omari Thomas. At the same position, there's players like Omarr Norman-Lott who use their speed to blow past blockers in the blink of an eye.
This keeps offensive linemen on their toes when one play you have to stand your ground and the next you need to be quicker to your spot.
Garner is prepared to help his unit grasp as many 'tools' as possible. He wants to play to their strengths while giving them multiple moves to keep offensive linemen off-balance.
"Obviously, as a coach, you’re trying to help your players fill their tool box up with all the different tools," Garner said. "They may use this tool for this, you use that tool for that but they got to have the different tools in the toolbox. And you try to look at guys’ strengths and you try to coach them up to hey, play this way according to this skillset, this is something that’s really your skillset vs. what he’s doing over here, that’s his skillset. So, it may be a little bit different. Elijah Simmons is going to be a different type of player than Bryson Eason just because of skillset. So, you’re just trying to help them sharpen their tools and then they’ll be able to go in that box and pull out what they need at that particular time based off of what they’re against getting schematically, from who they’re playing against and all that so they can be successful."
There's a lot to be optimistic about on Tennessee's defensive line given the different pieces they have to play with. Having a tough, old fashioned coach like Garner combined with confidence in the room displayed by Josephs could be a deadly combination.
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